Why the Holocaust Camps were Awful

by: Grant Compere 1st hour

Why the Holocaust Camps were Awful

by: Grant Compere 1st hour

Introduction

In January 1933 Hitler rose to power, soon after the first concentration camp was made. The reason Hitler was killing many types of people was that hitler wanted to create a superior race. He thought that all the Jews, Gypsies, and anyone with a mental disability was inferior to his own German people. There were three types of Nazi camps during WWII. There were concentration camps, forced labor camps, and also death camps. All of these camps could be called death camps because people of the camps were dying from illness, exposure, and malnutrition. The camps were awful and very unjust, but it is good that we can learn from this so we can make sure it will never happen again.

Concentration Camps

The Nazi concentration camps could be called death camps because, the prisoners were dying just from being there because of illness and exposure to the elements. One reason that many people were dying was that illness could spread very quickly throughout the camps. It was so easy for the illness to spread because, prisoners had to live in barracks that could hold around 70-80 people at a time, but it wasn’t uncommon to find over 200 people crammed into one barrack. Another reason that concentration camps could be called death camps was that the prisoners had to sleep in the barracks with wooden planks for beds and rags for sheets. Also there were small holes in the walls so the prisoners could feel the cold night breeze. The Concentration camps could be called death camps because of the way that the prisoners were treated and the overall conditions of the camps.

Forced Labor Camps

The Nazi work camps could also be called death camps because of the hard labor that the prisoners were forced to do paired with the awful conditions. After WWI Germany’s economy was crippled, they could no longer pay their workers. So they started to make forced labor camps and force their prisoners to work. Many of the prisoners were working in quarries, mines, and the construction industry. The conditions were no better than the concentration camps, and they were working hard all day so many more people were dying from illness, exhaustion, and malnutrition. The only real difference between the two camps besides the labor was the amount of calories received per day. People in the forced labor camps got more calories in there food so they could work longer before dying. The Nazi work camps could be called death camps because they were literally being worked to death on a daily basis.

Death or Execution Camps

The actual death camps of WWII were the worst thing anyone could ever imagine, the conditions were worse and they had large buildings where they could conduct mass murders. The prisoners at these camps were normally people that had already been in a work camp and could do no more work. They could also have a disability or something that will not allow them to work. The ways that the Nazi’s choose to exterminate their prisoners was awful, they used mass shootings and they also gassed people. They would gas people by putting them in a closed room with no holes, then they would pump gas in until the prisoners suffocated. These camps were by far the worst, they definitely earned their name as the death camp.

Conclusion

Over all the things that the nazis did was awful and will never be forgotten throughout history. The nazi’s were responsilbe for at least 5 million deaths, what they did can never be forgiven and we will remember what they did for as long as we live. The living conditions of all the camps were really bad, and really all the camps can be called death camps.